Adelaide has once again been named among the world’s most liveable cities, climbing to eighth place in The Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2026 Global Liveability Index.
The annual index ranks 173 cities across the world, assessing living conditions through five key categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.
This year, Adelaide received an overall score of 96 out of 100, placing it ahead of Vancouver and Tokyo in the global top ten.
It marks another major result for the South Australian capital, which has risen from ninth place in 2025 and continued its sharp climb from 30th in 2022.
Adelaide was one of three Australian cities to make the top ten, alongside Melbourne, which ranked third, and Sydney, which ranked fourth. Copenhagen took out the top spot, followed by Vienna, Melbourne, Sydney, Zurich, Geneva and Osaka.
Adelaide’s strongest results came in healthcare and education, with the city receiving perfect scores of 100 in both categories. It also scored 96 for infrastructure, 95 for stability, and 91 for culture and environment.
In a Facebook post from Premier Peter Malinauskas he said the ranking confirms what Adelaide locals already knew.
“That’s something we should all be proud of.”
“As we continue to work to make our state an even better place to live, work, visit and invest in,” he wrote.
The ranking also adds to the city’s growing international reputation as a place to live, work, visit and invest, with Adelaide continuing to gain recognition for its lifestyle, accessibility, education, healthcare and infrastructure.
The top ten cities in the 2026 EIU Global Liveability Index are Copenhagen, Vienna, Melbourne, Sydney, Zurich, Geneva, Osaka, Adelaide, Vancouver and Tokyo.
Source: The Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2026 Global Liveability Index.
